Saturday, March 24th students and their families will participate in March For Our Lives to demand safety and an end to gun violence and mass shootings in schools. It is a demonstration created and organized by #NeverAgain, a group of students who survived the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Students are marching across the country and at the Capitol to make sure their voices are heard. See the link below to find a March For Our Lives location near you.

As an advocate for children’s and youth’s voices being expressed and heard I wanted to remind us all to participate in some way. This event also made me think of the courage of Sandy Hook Mom, Scarlett Lewis. I watched a video by Scarlett Lewis who lost her son Jesse in the Sandy Hook School shootings. She started the “Choose Love” social emotional learning program to help prevent more tragedies like this one.

This from the Jesse Lewis Choose Love website: “The Choose Love Enrichment Program™ is a free, downloadable, pre-K through 12th grade, evidence-based social and emotional (SEL) classroom program teaching children how to choose love in any circumstance. The program focuses on four important character values – Courage, Gratitude, Forgiveness and Compassion in Action – which cultivates optimism, resilience and personal responsibility.” Check the link below. There are many resources at her website, including a program for Choose Love at Home. The Choose Love program also uses a tapping technique for emotional healing and change. You can learn about the Tapping Solution at the website link, also below.

After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings in Broward County, Florida, many people are participating in the recovery and healing process. Internationally known trauma expert, Dr. Lori Leyden and her Trauma Healing and Resiliency Team from Sandy Hook, CT headed to Parkland, FL at the beginning of March and offered rapid relief trauma healing sessions for those affected by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting tragedy. They also provided training for professionals and community leaders in charge of the recovery effort. See the link below for more information about Dr. Lori Leyden’s work.

Participating in the March for Our Lives is one way to have voice around gun violence in schools. Whether you and your family or students can or can’t attend the March for Our Lives, you can participate in other ways. Here’s an idea.

March for Our Lives Challenge: Talk about the March for Our Lives with your children or students and write a story together, or individually that expresses your and their feelings around gun violence in schools. You can do this in short story format or in comic panels.